Information from Association Legalize it! (April 2024)

Hello {name}

Current information from our Association

The vacations are over and we can be reached by phone again as usual on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays in the afternoon (079 581 90 44).

The next members' meeting will take place on Friday, May 3, 6 pm. We are happy to receive registrations.

Our secretary Sven will take part in the panel at CannaTrade on Saturday, May 25, 1 pm, “40 Years of Nachtschatten Verlag: From Prohibition to Legalization”.

Here is our web update information from the last few weeks:

16.04.2024 – Narcotics statistics 2023: Preview

The Federal Statistical Office (FSO) had already published the narcotics statistics (BMS) for 2023 at the end of March. In the meantime, we have been able to update our documents and in Legalize it! No. 102 we will publish a first article with these figures. As has been the case for years, this will be a general overview with initial estimates. A more specific analysis of, for example, the differences in the prosecution of weed and hashish is planned for the fall (LI103).

But this much can already be revealed at this point: The figures have fallen by around two thirds since the highs in 2015 – but there were still just under 20,000 criminal offenses reported in Switzerland in 2023! And this is without the figures from the fixed penalties published by the FSO only up to 2021. This means that almost 55 cannabis-related offenses are still reported every day in this country! The future will show how far these figures will fall before the trough or legalization is reached.

Become a member and stay up to date – also with regard to repression and how to avoid it!

09.04.2024 – Germany: initial findings

As mentioned last week, Germany is making some changes to the way it deals with cannabis. However, the cultivation clubs planned from July will only be available to members with a German residence (stores are not provided for in the current law).
We advise against simply taking your own «material» across the border in order to consume it «legally» in Germany – import and transit is and remains illegal (freiburger-nachrichten.ch).

German customs already clearly stated this on its website on April 1: «In contrast, the import, export and transit of cannabis remains prohibited and is punishable by law.» Or also: «Customs therefore expressly warns consumers against importing cannabis purchased abroad into Germany in order to avoid criminal consequences.»

So, for the time being, (almost) everything remains as it was for users from Switzerland with regard to Germany – namely illegal!

⇒ Addendum from April 10: Cannabis: Hemp friends warn against stoner trips to Germany (nau.ch)

02.04.2024 – New regulation of cannabis in Germany

Since yesterday, our neighbors in Germany have had new rules for cannabis and its consumption (tagesschau.de, watson.ch, srf.ch, legal text). However – and we have already had quite a lot of experience with this in Switzerland – it will take a few years for the new situation to really «solidify» in everyday life. In the meantime, a lot can still happen – or not. Aside from a new government, for example, local law enforcement agencies are also likely to play an important role, as they are on the front line and responsible for the actual implementation.
Here in Switzerland, it took ten years and various federal court rulings before the handling of the fixed penalties and small quantities was really clear to everyone and implemented in line with the legislators' intentions. But as life goes, the fixed penalties had lost importance in the meantime anyway and their number has not even been published by the Federal Statistical Office since last year.
But for now, we are happy for our brothers and sisters in Germany and hope that the new approach can ease the knotty situation with cannabis somewhat. However, it will take a while for people to leave decades of repression behind them – and as soon as this is achieved, something else will probably apply again. We will stay tuned and report on this.

19.03.2024 – Facilitation for medicinal hemp

We have revised our page on hemp in medicine. Since August 2022, an exceptional license is no longer required for the prescription of medicines containing THC.

However, doctors still rarely issue prescriptions for such preparations. The cost of these drugs is very high due to all the regulations. The health insurance companies do not have to reimburse such preparations either, so patients usually have to pay for them themselves.

We would like to present such a prescription process with as many details as possible: Personal experience, copies of the documents, prices of the medication, if necessary also clarification of fitness to drive. We can anonymize the documents before publishing them. If you have had such experiences or know someone who has, please let us know.

We hope you found our infomail interesting.

We wish you a good start to the 2024 season!

Hemp greetings

Fabian, Markus, Michael and Sven

Board Association Legalize it!